French meat and livestock producers still protesting, despite rescue package

Farmers have maintained protests and road blockades in western and south western France. 

The latest measures top up assistance already granted in May and June, which involves deferring farmers’ social security payments and the government paying some of these costs directly. 

The French government claims these cumulated measures will cost the French taxpayer €16 million in 2015.

Meat exports​

The government has also promised to promote French meat with domestic consumers and restaurants by praising its quality, inducing supermarket and restaurant chains to renegotiate procurement contracts, and work harder to increase meat exports. 

A government communiqué on July 22 added that France European affairs minister Harlem Désir had flown to Greece to resolve meat exporters' problems caused by the imposition of Greek capital controls earlier this month. 

But the combined measures have not satisfied many livestock farmers. “Our demands are prices, prices and prices,” ​said Xavier Belin head of France’s leading farmers’ lobby group FNSEA (Fédération Nationale des Syndicats d'Expoitants d'Agricoles) and Thomas Diemer, head of France’s young farmer’s movement (Jeunes Agriculteurs) in a joint letter released this weekend.

Turmoil​

France’s meat (and dairy) industry has been in turmoil over the last few months as producers struggle to cope with falling prices. They have been forced to sell at below production costs, as France’s economy continues to be weak. 

There has also been a general decline in meat consumption nationwide and competition from low cost producers from other EU countries such as Germany and Denmark has hit French producers’ market share. 

While beef production contraction has been a long term trend, the French meat sector has been alarmed by a decline in pigmeat sales. 

The consumption of delicatessen products such as ham and sausages fell 1.9% in the first three months of 2015 compared to the previous quarter, noted a government-commissioned report made public on July 21.

Pork prices​

It argued that the government’s response in May and June had helped raise pork purchase prices to the level of production costs. 

The reference wholesale price of pork carcasses from Brittany, for instance, increased from €1.24 per kilogramme (kg) on 1 June to €1.38/kg on 20 July. But targets for beef prices have not been met, however. 

Gérard Larcher, president of the French Senate has also welcomed the government’s measures.

'Tense situation'​

“This response is the minimum needed to unblock the very tense situation of the last days,”​ he explained. However, he continued: “It is not sufficient and there is now a need to work on structural responses so as to reinject competitiveness in our agribusiness branch.”​ 

Stéphane Le Foll, France’s agriculture minister announced a meeting would be held after the summer holidays on 7 September involving government and food industry representatives, to take stock of the situation.

The French government is particularly nervous about the farmers’ protest movement. There are concerns it could ally with Brittany protestors who in 2013 forced the government to drop a long planned ‘ecotax’ on truck traffic. 

There are also concerns about fresh protests by farmers in Alsace, which borders Germany.